Cash Flow – Personal Finance Blog – Money Advice

A friend of mine went to the dentist last week to have her teeth cleaned. As part of the exam the dental hygienist wanted to give her a cancer screen-where they open your mouth and look around with the cotton gauze. This has always been part of the exam, but now, she was informed that it was $25 and must be paid in cash.

My dental cleaning appointments usually run 50 minutes, hers was done in 20 minutes! What is going on? Unfortunately, in this tough economic turndown, many dentists are going broke. People without insurance are putting the trip to the dentist at the bottom of the list.

I was speaking with a dental hygienist who had just recently quit her job. She had been instructed that going forward, she would see 2 patients per hour instead of one. She was also instructed to up sell everything, from the “cancer screening” to X-rays to the doctors exam.

It really bums me out to have to report this new trend as I have always come to trust and rely on my dentists judgement. In the past I’ve never questioned the dentist if I was told I had a cavity or soemthing needed done….

I’ve come to this conclusion-if your dentist suddenly finds something out of the ordinary and it’s a very expensive procedure; get a second opinion. Another friend of mine was told by her dentist that she needed to have her gums lazered because of gum disease. She did get a second opinion from a periodontist. The periodontist found two teeth that needed some attention because of a gum disease, not her whole mouth!